Social Media Explorerhttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com
Social Media ExplorerThu, 30 Jul 2015 21:23:40 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=260http://users.feedblitz.com/af1364496f8f1052dba28d84b4bd7189/sme-avatar-48.jpgSocial Media Explorerhttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com
https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/5-facebook-advertising-fundamentals-to-streamline-your-strategy/5 Facebook Advertising Fundamentals to Streamline your Strategyhttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/104098390/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Facebook-Advertising-Fundamentals-to-Streamline-your-Strategy/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/104098390/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Facebook-Advertising-Fundamentals-to-Streamline-your-Strategy/#commentsThu, 30 Jul 2015 14:52:00 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26459Of all the social media platforms available, Facebook is clearly still reigning supreme. Not only is it one of the most popular with 1.44 billion monthly active users, but it also has one of the strongest advertising platforms of any social network. Facebook ads even rival Google ads in regards to sheer effectiveness and ROI. If you’re new to working with Facebook ads and haven’t had much luck, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean that Facebook ads will be…

Related Stories

]]>
Of all the social media platforms available, Facebook is clearly still reigning supreme. Not only is it one of the most popular with 1.44 billion monthly active users, but it also has one of the strongest advertising platforms of any social network. Facebook ads even rival Google ads in regards to sheer effectiveness and ROI.

If you’re new to working with Facebook ads and haven’t had much luck, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean that Facebook ads will be useless to you. It just means that you have to rework your Facebook advertising strategy to make the most of it. These core fundamentals will help you get started on the path to advertising bliss.

Let’s get started and do feel free to take notes!

Choose the best audience

What makes Facebook so great for advertising is its ability to target specific types of audiences and then target them with the right messages. It allows you to reach out to new customers and market directly to your followers and customers on your emailing list. If you haven’t had much luck with Facebook ads, the best thing to do is to start tweaking who you’re marketing to.

Facebook makes it easy to upload your email subscriber list so you can market to your subscriber list with targeted ads. Since most people use one email address, you can bet that most of your email addresses match up with users on Facebook. Using Facebook’s Custom Audience function, simply upload your list.

You can then further segment your email subscriber list to deliver even more targeted messages. For example, if your unisex online clothing boutique is having a sale on dresses, then it’s unlikely you would promote that content towards your male subscribers, right? Likewise, you might avoid promoting boxers to women.

If you’re looking to attract new customers, you can also create Lookalike Audiences that will look similar to your current audiences. You can set certain well-known parameters such as age, gender and location or you can go after more specific customers, such as those who:

Just celebrated a new job or other life event

Like a certain type of food, hobby or celebrity

Are in relationships, married or divorced

Don’t forget to use your email list to exclude certain subscribers. After all, what’s the point of introducing an item to someone who is already very much aware of it?

Keep your goals as the central focus

What tends to derail many Facebook advertising campaigns is the lack of goal or direction. If you don’t have a goal in mind when you start a campaign, how will you ever know if you’re reached it or not?

Some of the most common goals for Facebook campaigns are:

Increase interaction on posts

Get more people to like your page

Encourage people to download or interact with your app

Get people to sign up for upcoming events

Claim an offer you’re promoting

Choose one of these goals before you create your ad so you know what you want to accomplish.

Hit them with the right message

Once you figure out who you’re going to target, you need to send out the right message to attract viewers. The most important thing to know – no matter what your audience or strategy is – is to remember that not all of your followers or viewers know your product as well as you do. If you’re too specific about your ad, some viewers might miss some very important context surrounding you ad, and they might just skip it altogether.

There are a million different types of ads you might write, but whatever you’re writing, remember these three cardinal rules of Facebook ad writing.

State your message as clearly as possible. Don’t leave it up to the viewer to investigate what you’re talking about, because they simply won’t.

Don’t forget a compelling call-to-action (CTA). This message compels viewers to take action, whether it’s like your page, claim a discount or subscribe to your blog. Make it clear how you want viewers to act. Here’s a brilliant guide to creating a CTA button within Facebook ads.

Get a second opinion. Just because you understood your ad doesn’t mean that others will. Ask a coworker to read the ad first before you decide to run it.

Of course, it should go without saying that you need to check and double check your ads for grammar and punctuation errors, but you know that, right?

Always always A/B test. Always!

No ad campaign gets everything right on the first try. Some have too much text. Others are too vague. Some fail to convey the message accordingly. All of this is okay; very few marketers target the right audience with the right message on the first try. For most of us, it’ll take a few a few tries to get everything about an ad and an audience correct.

That’s where A/B testing comes in. Each audience reacts differently to certain ads. A/B testing helps you find out which of those ads they respond the best to. For example, let’s say your software company wants to know which deal consumers prefer: a two-week free trial of a product or a 10 percent discount. You could run an A/B test on Facebook to your audience and see which one they prefer overall. This will give you a better idea about how to market to your audience and what they value as consumers.

Though you may have success with one type of ad, it’s important to remember that ads have trends like fashion. What works today might not work tomorrow. If you want your ads to continue doing well, then you need to keep up the A/B testing. Run your successful ad against another ad type to see if you get the same results.

This is the best way to keep improving your ads and make sure you stay current with what your audience actually likes. It’s also an easy way to test what your customers appreciate (free trial versus discount in the example above). Keep A/B testing to make sure that your ads are in line with customer values.

Track your progress

So many marketers get frustrated with Facebook because they feel like they haven’t made any headway with ads. The truth is that most of these people who claim that Facebook is useless probably haven’t been tracking the progress of their ads very well. Facebook easily allows you to track your ad’s progress as people click on it and click through your landing page. You can compare the success and failures of your ads and see what’s working and what isn’t.

Facebook advertising has a lot to offer your company, but if you don’t play around with it, you won’t be able to reap the full benefit of the site. Keep these tips in mind when starting your Facebook ad campaigns and you’ll be off to a better, more effective start.

Related Stories

]]>
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/104098390/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Facebook-Advertising-Fundamentals-to-Streamline-your-Strategy/feed/0https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Pens.jpghttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/lifestyle-mags-killing-social/How Lifestyle Mags Are Killing it on Socialhttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/103720180/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~How-Lifestyle-Mags-Are-Killing-it-on-Social/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/103720180/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~How-Lifestyle-Mags-Are-Killing-it-on-Social/#commentsTue, 28 Jul 2015 14:09:48 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26367Marketers look to social media to evaluate even traditional media buys. You may think of print magazines as old-fashioned, but a new report from shows many have evolved to find the social media sweet spot.

Related Stories

]]>
Marketers increasingly look to social media to evaluate the potential impact of even the most traditional media buys. You may think of print magazines as being as old-fashioned as it gets. However, a new report from Engagement Labs shows many men’s and women’s lifestyle mags have successfully evolved to find their social media sweet spot.

According to Bryan Segal, CEO of Engagement Labs, “People still love the touch and feel of print magazines. They’re still a great medium, even if they’re past their heyday. Let’s face it, content is still king and queen. Social just serves as a new distribution network. Magazines have already mastered developing great content, now their challenge is parlaying it into a great digital experience.”

According to the report, many have already achieved that goal.

Measuring Social Media Performance

Engagement Labs measured social media performance for several top men’s and women’s lifestyle magazines using their eValue tool. The eValue score is composed of Engagement, Impact and Responsiveness metrics.

Engagement is the level of interaction content receives on a specific social network

Impact is the reach content receives on a specific social network

Responsiveness measures how much, how fast and how well a brand responds to actual conversations amongst its users.

The Results from the Study

Perhaps it shouldn’t be that surprising that these print magazines have adapted well to social media. For years, bloggers have used Cosmopolitan as the ultimate guide for creating attention-grabbing headlines. Prompting someone to make an impulse purchase at the checkout line demands the same understanding of human nature as getting them to click a link. Perhaps not surprisingly, Cosmo had the best performance ranking on Twitter and Facebook, and ranked #2 on Instagram.

From Then to Now

Prompting someone to make an impulse purchase at the checkout line demands the same understanding of human nature as getting them to click a link.

As a marketer, analyzing the options for your paid media dollars is more complex and nuanced than it’s ever been. Fortunately, we also have more hard data than we’ve ever had. It’s just important to think through the implications of that data holistically. What do the numbers represent, in terms of value to your brand?

What lifestyle magazines have to offer marketers now is intrinsically the same thing they’ve always had to offer. Not just eyeballs, but the positive association with their brand, which consumers emotionally relate to leisure, enjoyment and their personal passions.

That sense of loyalty and community is a natural fit with social media, and it looks like many men’s and women’s magazines have successfully translated their passionate community of readers to the social space.

Related Stories

]]>
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/103720180/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~How-Lifestyle-Mags-Are-Killing-it-on-Social/feed/2https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/fina.jpghttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/top-5-badass-twitter-influencers-to-inspire-your-social-voice/Top 5 Badass Twitter Influencers to Inspire your Social Voicehttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/102727398/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Top-Badass-Twitter-Influencers-to-Inspire-your-Social-Voice/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/102727398/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Top-Badass-Twitter-Influencers-to-Inspire-your-Social-Voice/#commentsWed, 22 Jul 2015 13:15:58 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26344With Twitter influencers it can really go one of two ways. You have the non-stop content generation mills soullessly churning 20+ posts per hour about the latest trends in marketing. And then you have what I like to call the Badass Social Voice Influencers. These select few are defined by how they push the limits of social as a whole. They use the freedom of the internet to foster creativity over conversions. What makes them truly badass is their bravery…

You have the non-stop content generation mills soullessly churning 20+ posts per hour about the latest trends in marketing. And then you have what I like to call the Badass Social Voice Influencers. These select few are defined by how they push the limits of social as a whole. They use the freedom of the internet to foster creativity over conversions. What makes them truly badass is their bravery to speak their minds even when it may not lead to retweets or any real ROI at all for that matter.

I wanted to share my top 5 badass twitter influencers so you can learn from example. These people are artistic with their approach. They act as modern poets, using each tweet as an opportunity to change the collective consciousness.

Anyone can repost old blog articles. I believe social is moving away from this type of content in search of raw intelligent insight. If you can learn to master the art of speaking genuinely while giving fresh insights you too will notice a following that gathers to watch your every tweet.

Donald Miller

I hope I’m not stepping out of line when I say that Donald is a modern poetic genius. Each tweet stands alone as wholly inspirational and captivating. Through intelligent wordplay he forces us to question our methods and act with intention. Honestly there were times I assumed he was quoting some great philosopher when it ended up just being another of his stellar musings. He’s also a great resource for learning how to improve and define your brand

In Three Words: Poetic, Quotable, Brand

Ryan Holiday

I first followed Ryan after digesting his stellar book The Obstacle is the Way. Little did I know that following him would be akin to reading an entire new book one tweet at a time. Ryan takes inspiration from classical literature and somehow incorporates these ancient wisdoms into a modern relatable context. The result is an everflowing stream of introspection and reflection. Not to mention, he really loves calling brands out on their bullshit. The fact that he just went on a huge tirade against Jezebel won him some major points in my book.

In Three Words: Introspective, Meditative, #QuitYourBullshit

Rebekah Radice

A lifestyle guru in your Twitter feed. One second she’s spouting hardcore #realtalk motivation, the next she’s sharing a great insight on the latest twitter privacy policies. What I love about her is how unafraid she is to stay true to herself while embracing her role as a budding leader in the space. Stay real Rebekah, we appreciate the honesty.

In Three Words: Honest, Humble, Enlightening

Oli Gardner

Oli is the type of guy we all want to be on Twitter. Unafraid, conversational, unique, bold and refreshing. I have no idea how this dude is able to cram so much insight in 160 characters. Not to mention he’s constantly giving his tweets 110% effort, going as far as creating custom animated GIFs for a laugh. Couple his humor with all the insights he shares from founding Unbounce and you pretty much have to hit the follow button. Don’t resist it. Give in to his charm.

In Three Words: Humorous, Bold, Unconventional

Pam Moore

Pam lives up to her reputation as the ‘Social Nut’ of the industry. Her feed is a full on bombardment of marketing wisdom the likes of which you probably won’t find anywhere else. It’s a tangy blend of 60% of the latest content buzzing around the rumor mills and 40% original quotes for taste. Her intelligence really shines through with each post and I especially love her direct approach to marketing. She’s also a good example for how to engage with other users on social, always open to having a casual chat with one of her many users.

In Three Words: Thoughtful, Energetic, Wise

…Bonus!

Product Hunt

If you made it this far, you get to see my favorite account in the world. Essentially it’s a feed that features the top products from across the web each day. This is basically where most marketers ‘in the know’ tend to find their tools before they reach the masses. There’s just so many damn cool things that are guaranteed to grab your interest. It’s a fun way to stay in the loop on the latest tools for growing your brand.

In Three Words: Totally, Awesome, Tools!

Thanks for reading everyone. Now go out and be brave with your interactions. We have complete freedom to be and say what we choose. Learn to appreciate this freedom and use it to be remembered.

Related Stories

]]>
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/102727398/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Top-Badass-Twitter-Influencers-to-Inspire-your-Social-Voice/feed/3https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Dollarphotoclub_870957641.jpghttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/5-ways-to-use-social-media-as-a-networking-strategy/5 Ways to Use Social Media as a Networking Strategyhttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/102191546/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Ways-to-Use-Social-Media-as-a-Networking-Strategy/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/102191546/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Ways-to-Use-Social-Media-as-a-Networking-Strategy/#commentsMon, 20 Jul 2015 13:35:51 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26328Social media’s value for brand-building, sales, and customer engagement is regularly discussed and debated. But one area that’s frequently overlooked is its incredible networking ROI, especially for introverts who may eschew large, noisy professional gatherings. As an author, consultant, and business school professor, here are five ways I’ve personally used social media to enhance my networking and develop lasting professional relationships. 1. Conduct Interviews As I discuss in my book Stand Out, interviews – for…

Related Stories

]]>
Social media’s value for brand-building, sales, and customer engagement is regularly discussed and debated. But one area that’s frequently overlooked is its incredible networking ROI, especially for introverts who may eschew large, noisy professional gatherings.

As an author, consultant, and business school professor, here are five ways I’ve personally used social media to enhance my networking and develop lasting professional relationships.

1. Conduct Interviews

As I discuss in my book Stand Out, interviews – for blogs, podcasts, or web video programs – can be a powerful way to break through the line of supplicants trying to snag the attention of industry leaders. Instead of approaching them to beg for a cup of coffee or a chance to “pick their brain,” you move to the front of the line when you offer to interview them and share it online.

2. Leverage Your Content

Interviewing someone is great; it’s even better if you can find multiple ways to extract value from that conversation. One master of this is Roger Dooley, who was kind enough to interview me for his podcast. But he didn’t stop there; he also wrote three different blog posts based on our conversation (including this one). That’s certainly memorable as a networking strategy; who wouldn’t be grateful for so much play? In turn, of course, I’m writing about Roger here and will look for other opportunities to spread the word about him. (In my free Stand Out Self-Assessment Workbook, I offer additional ideas about how to leverage your content.)

3. Recycle Content

Once you’ve interviewed someone once, don’t let it languish and go to waste. If it’s “evergreen” – i.e., not time-sensitive, such as a list-based post like this – you can repost it periodically on social media. You can do this either by hand or (as I do) using a service like Edgar, which automatically reposts content you’ve put into your “vault” after weeks or months. I recently retweeted a 2014 post I’d written about executive coach Alisa Cohn; Alisa told me yesterday it caught the attention of a prominent tech executive who just hired her. The best kind of networking is when something you did for someone 18 months ago keeps putting money into their pocket.

4. Write a LinkedIn Recommendation

It’s human nature to appreciate praise – especially public praise. A very simple way to make a positive impression on someone you know is to take the time to write a LinkedIn recommendation for them (not just an “endorsement,” which can be done with a click and consequently isn’t that valuable). People will appreciate your effort, and – though this shouldn’t be your goal – they may be inclined to want to reciprocate and write one for you, as well.

5. Respond to Real-Time Updates

If you follow friends, colleagues, and people you admire on social media, you may be able to catch interesting last-minute opportunities. For instance, author Jon Acuff is known for hosting spur-of-the-moment meetups in different cities, which he promotes through his Twitter account. When blogger Alexis Grant announced that she was going to be in New York City (where I live) during a certain week, I invited her to a dinner gathering I was organizing, and she accepted – a great way to turn online networking into real world relationships.

In an Internet-fueled world, we’re increasingly working with people who live in other cities or countries. Networking these days isn’t just Chamber of Commerce mixers; instead, when deployed correctly, social media has become one of the most powerful networking tools at our disposal.

Related Stories

]]>
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/102191546/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Ways-to-Use-Social-Media-as-a-Networking-Strategy/feed/1https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/connnect.jpghttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/digital-marketing/this-is-why-youll-never-pay-for-a-like-again/This is Why You’ll Never Pay for a ‘Like’ Againhttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/101193862/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~This-is-Why-Youll-Never-Pay-for-a-Like-Again/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/101193862/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~This-is-Why-Youll-Never-Pay-for-a-Like-Again/#commentsWed, 15 Jul 2015 13:53:26 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26318Last week brought great news to marketers who care about real business metrics and ROI (which should be all of us, right?) Facebook announced that the latest update to their ad platform, will start calculating cost-per-click (CPC) based on “link clicks.” Engagement clicks, or user interactions which take place on Facebook such as comments, likes and shares, will no longer count towards your costs. So, what’s considered a “link click”? Essentially, any click that takes you…

]]>
Last week brought great news to marketers who care about real business metrics and ROI (which should be all of us, right?) Facebook announced that the latest update to their ad platform, will start calculating cost-per-click (CPC) based on “link clicks.” Engagement clicks, or user interactions which take place on Facebook such as comments, likes and shares, will no longer count towards your costs.

So, what’s considered a “link click”?

Essentially, any click that takes you off Facebook, or clicks that lead to a direct conversion like installing an app, including Facebook apps.

Clicks to view a website off Facebook, like YouTube, will count.

Clicks on a video uploaded to Facebook won’t. This move aligns their ad offerings more with Google’s Adwords model, which is well-suited for generating direct response.

What does this change mean for Marketers?

This doesn’t mean marketers won’t be able to set up campaigns where the goal is greater engagement on Facebook. The marketing funnel still applies.

Some brands will continue to need Facebook as a display advertising channel, to build awareness and get their message in front of an audience to spark consideration. You’ll still be able to bid for engagement clicks by setting your optimization options. The difference is, those clicks won’t be measured when calculating your CPC.

The social advertising ecosystem has matured a lot in the relatively few years it’s been in existence. As other platforms follow Facebook’s lead, marketers will have more power to optimize their campaigns, and more options for tailoring their objectives towards real business goals.

]]>
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/101193862/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~This-is-Why-Youll-Never-Pay-for-a-Like-Again/feed/2https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/likecash-01.jpghttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/4-lesser-known-facebook-ad-tips-to-get-the-most-for-your-spend/4 Lesser Known Facebook Ad Tips to Get the Most For Your Budgethttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/100793322/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Lesser-Known-Facebook-Ad-Tips-to-Get-the-Most-For-Your-Budget/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/100793322/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Lesser-Known-Facebook-Ad-Tips-to-Get-the-Most-For-Your-Budget/#commentsMon, 13 Jul 2015 13:32:21 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26279I’m a huge fan of how easy Facebook has made it to advertise on their platform. You can create a campaign with zero experience and have it submitted to Facebook Ad Approvers within minutes. It’s truly a powerful time we live in. Want to know what’s not amazing? The fact that there are some incredibly profitable elements that 99% of Facebook Advertisers don’t know about. In this post, I’m going to help you: Find the…

Related Stories

]]>
I’m a huge fan of how easy Facebook has made it to advertise on their platform. You can create a campaign with zero experience and have it submitted to Facebook Ad Approvers within minutes. It’s truly a powerful time we live in.

Want to know what’s not amazing? The fact that there are some incredibly profitable elements that 99% of Facebook Advertisers don’t know about. In this post, I’m going to help you:

Find the ads that work best for you

Find the audience segments that work best for you

Spend your money in the smartest, most strategic way possible

Improve your interest targeting

With these tips, you’ll be able to eliminate the unprofitable parts of your campaigns, find the hidden gems, and massively improve your targeting.

Split Test Your Ads for Maximum Profit

Want to run the same campaign but double your results? Then you better be split testing your ads. The visual nature of Facebook can cause one ad to perform very differently from another ad. The above screenshot is a 7-day period from an ad set using all the same targeting for the same product. The only difference between ads A, B, and C is the image itself.

Write at least two ad texts

Write at least two headlines

From here, you’ll have 5 x 2 x 2 = 20 ads.

It takes time to optimize this way, but you can see from the example, the results can be incredible if you take the time to create ads in this manner.

Segment Your Reporting Data

When it comes to optimizing paid traffic accounts, I like to follow a simple (and fairly obvious) rule: Do more of what works, and do less of what doesn’t work.

It’s a simple principle that can have a massive impact in your Facebook Ads Account when applied consistently.

Let’s say we had a target of $75 cost per website conversion in the above campaign. When we open up the data for the campaign, we see a $106 CPA, should we give up and pause the campaign? Not without digging deeper!

Navigate to Reports > Breakdown. Here, you can discover the easiest way to find opportunity in your account. Turn off the poor performing areas, and allocate the budget towards the profitable parts of your account. In the example above, I’d be turning off several age groups, and would instantly be at my goal CPA.

Other great questions you can answer with the “breakdown” tab on Facebook reports

Age (What age is connecting with your ads?)

Gender (What gender is buying your products?)

Age & Gender (Is there a combination that is most profitable? Maybe 18-24 year old guys aren’t fans of the product, but 18-24 year old women are)

Country / Region (What geographic region is most expensive to advertise in?)

When you begin exploring the inner workings of your account, you’ll start to discover that campaign-level summaries don’t tell the whole story.

Build Campaign Priority Lists

When it comes to Facebook Ads, not all campaigns are created equally.

There are campaign strategies that should receive more of your attention and budget, and other campaigns that should be created only after developing a strong foundation.

Advanced marketers develop Campaign Priority Lists to allocate their funds to the best strategies first. Before you approach challenging campaigns, be sure to capitalize on low-hanging fruit first.

So where should you begin?

Top Priority: Users Who Are in Buy Mode

Targeting Strategy: Retargeting Product Viewers

After you installed your custom audience pixel on all of your pages, you can begin creating segmented retargeting lists. People who have already viewed your product pages have already completed all the hard work to make it there. They found your content, opted in, and viewed your product. These people are ready to buy. Give them a gentle nudge to convert, and you’ll start Facebook Ads with a high converting, low-cost masterpiece of a campaign.

Pro Tip: Serve these ads with a high bid 72 hours after viewing a product page.

Mid-Priority: Users Who Know Your Brand

After targeting product viewers, let’s take one step up to a mid-priority campaign strategy and capture the users who already know about your brand.

Imagine you sell wedding invitations. A soon-to-be bride may look at seven different websites in a week. Just because they left your site without converting doesn’t mean they’re not ready to buy. Creating campaigns to target users who already know your brand but haven’t purchased yet is another low-cost way to capture the attention of users deep in the sales funnel.

Low-Priority: Users Who Have Never Heard of You [Interest Targeting]

After you have patched holes in the deeper sections of your sales funnel using the high and mid-priority targeting strategies, it’s time to open up the floodgates of traffic.

Targeting users that haven’t heard of you or previously looked at your products are less likely to convert than the previous campaigns I mentioned. However, that doesn’t mean you can build wildly successful campaigns targeting completely cold traffic with interest targeting.

To make interest targeting successful, remember to advertise appropriately. Someone who hasn’t searched for your product may not be ready to take out their credit card and spend money. However, if your target appropriately, you may be able to add value to their lives without asking them to buy anything. At this stage of targeting, you’ll want to use engaging landing pages and utilize a sales funnel to nurture the lead over time. This way, when the person is ready to convert, they do it with you.

Campaign Priority Wildcard: Lookalike Targetting

When it comes to Facebook ads, one of my favorite campaigns to run is a lookalike campaign. It works like this:

-Person completes certain action on your site (purchases, adds to cart, is on email list, etc..)

-Facebook then finds demographic data about that person and finds other people are similar

The reason these lookalike campaigns are a wildcard is simple: Facebook Lookalike Targeting isn’t perfect. For example, if you upload a sample list of 1,000 people, Facebook may spit back 2.5 million lookalikes.

When Facebook provides you with a lot of potential lookalikes, combine it with another targeting method. You can target fans of “Social Media Explorer”, only if they are on my lookalike list. Stacking these two kinds of targeting allows you to zoom in on the precise person you’re looking for.

Leverage Boolean Operators

One of the biggest, most impactful mistakes I see when it comes to Facebook Ads is a train of thought you have surely practiced.

Let’s do a little experiment and fire up the audience builder in Facebook.

Suppose I want to target runners who like technology.

First, I type in runners:

Wow, 33,000,000 people!

Now let’s narrow it down by adding the interest “technology”:

Uh… Wait a second…

Wait a second. How did the audience size increase? Wasn’t narrowing down my targeting by finding only the subgroup of runners who also like technology?

Unfortunately, no you weren’t.

Instead, we’re targeting people that like to go running, as well as a completely separate group of people that like to like technology.

This principle is so important when creating your ads, and it’s worth repeating for clarity. You are targeting two separate groups: Technology followers are your first group, and runners are your second group. There might be some overlap, but, for the most part, these are separate buckets. This is why the audience size increases when we add new interests.

Think about it: If you’re targeting a subgroup, the more interests you add – the audience size should get smaller. It doesn’t. The more interests you add, the larger your audience gets.

I typed in even more interests, and my audience only grew:

Facebook hides this little fact from most of its documentation. When selecting interests, you are using an “OR” variable. In the example above, we’re targeting runners OR fans of technology. We are not targeting “People who are runners AND like technology readers.”

So how can you improve your targeting, zooming to the audience you truly want to target?

The first is the segmentation of your campaigns. In this example we’ve been using, you would create one campaign targeting “surfers” and another targeting “technology.” It’s not perfect, but the goal here is to determine which interest is more profitable for you and optimize accordingly.

The second way to serve ads to the audience you intend is to use the Facebook Ads API.

If you’re not a developer, have no fear. There are many applications that handle this for you. Ad Espresso and Qwaya are two of the big names in this space. At Search Scientists, we use Ad Espresso, and it allows us to hit the center of the Venn Diagram for our clients.

See in the example above, I’m using the “and” variable. This time, I’m targeting people who are interested in running AND technology.

This time, when I enter all of those extra targeting methods, my audience zooms into the smallest level, only 6,000 users.

With the ideal targeting your ads will take off like never before. It’s all about finding the most ideal audiencepossible.

Related Stories

]]>
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/100793322/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Lesser-Known-Facebook-Ad-Tips-to-Get-the-Most-For-Your-Budget/feed/1https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/4-lesser-known-biz.jpghttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/8-advanced-tools-to-optimize-your-existing-traffic/8 Advanced Tools to Optimize Your Existing Traffichttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/99752332/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Advanced-Tools-to-Optimize-Your-Existing-Traffic/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/99752332/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Advanced-Tools-to-Optimize-Your-Existing-Traffic/#commentsTue, 07 Jul 2015 13:20:06 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26259Too often marketers hone every inch of their efforts into boosting traffic numbers. We throw money at our computer screen hoping a small spike in visitors will somehow magically validate our product and increase conversions. After our fourth lackluster Adwords campaign one might start to realize just how futile the ‘traffic war’ really is. It’s a battle with no clear end or winner but lots and lots of bloodshed. I’m here to convert you all into hippy…

Related Stories

]]>
Too often marketers hone every inch of their efforts into boosting traffic numbers. We throw money at our computer screen hoping a small spike in visitors will somehow magically validate our product and increase conversions. After our fourth lackluster Adwords campaign one might start to realize just how futile the ‘traffic war’ really is. It’s a battle with no clear end or winner but lots and lots of bloodshed. I’m here to convert you all into hippy pacifists, let’s end the ‘battle for extra eyeballs’ and instead focus on the users we already have.

These tools are meant to optimize your traffic and make it work for you. Every single interaction with your site should be both documented and customized for the individual user.

It’s the small things that can make a difference. Display more prominent Facebook share buttons to visitors from Facebook. If someone stays on site a long time, you better damn well watch them like the NSA. Deliver custom messaging and popups to drive the next desired action. I know it’s a lot to consider, so that’s why we put it all in a simple list, duh!

Let’s dive in shall we?

For Killing Your Bounce Rate
with Customized Experiences

To put it simply, this is the tool you use if you’re running PPC campaigns across multiple social channels and want to maximize email signups sitewide. Capture uses new behavioral tracking to customize which email popup users receive based on their individual interactions with your site. It takes into account which link directed them to your site, how many pages they interact with and even their location to arrive at the popup most likely to convert. It’s like hiring an intern to watch each user arriving to your site, but without the pimples and coffee runs.

Tailor is a beast of an app that works best for hyper-optimizing landing page conversions. It uses statistics and tracking to customize which landing page it shows the incoming users. It stands out above other apps with it’s advanced tracking algorithm that takes into account a user’s previous site interactions and forms a personality profile for users. Get it now while it’s free in beta!

For Boosting Email Signups
with Exit Intent Technology

Ever hear of exit intent? Learn it now ‘cause it’s going to change your email list forever. It essentially tracks a user’s live movements on site and waits for them to begin leaving your site before displaying an email popup or CTA. Exit Monitor is the best way to start making use of this new tech. With its advanced tracking technology, it’s able to display any CTA as soon as your user begins to float their mouse over that little red circle.

We’ve been using OptinMonster in house here at SME the past couple months. The real shining point of their services lies within their exit intent software for collecting email signups. Previously we saw on average about 1.1% email signups on our site. After using exit intent there was an immediate boost to 1.6% signups sitewide. Users tend to respond when their hand is already on the mouse. Having a popup appear while they’re not actively reading anything makes it less intrusive and annoying, meaning they’re more likely to give it proper attention.

For Customized Emails Based
on User Interactions

Customer.io is an incredibly advanced messaging tool that segments your users into micro-groups based on pretty much any specification you can think of. Want to target an email campaign to users that clicked on your ‘about’ page and spent more than 2 minutes reading it? You can do that now. This one tool exposes an entire world of remarketing and specific targeting by leveraging behavior, activity and pageviews all at once.

Threads.io is more ideal for sales and conversions. It watches each user’s interactions with your checkout page and specifically caters its email campaign based on how far the user makes it through the purchase. Say a user abandons a purchase after half entering their credit card information. Threads will customize an email series easing them back into the purchase process. This could include asking them why they abandoned their cart and if they plan on purchasing in the future. This helps keep your brand top of mind and saves some sales you may have otherwise lost.

For Advanced User Tracking
and Polling

Learning what your users thought of your brand used to be a tedious manual process of messaging each person one by one. Now, there’s an app for that. HotJar inserts real-time popups within your site to ask users customizable questions while they browse your page. Here at SME we saw a huge interaction rate with this app. We generated over 80 poll responses including 25 short answers in just one week. This gave us deep insights into our brand love and where we should be improving our UX on the site. On top of polling, HotJar also provides advanced heatmaps, and even records individual user sessions showing you live recordings of users on your site. You can’t get any more advanced tracking than that.

Wedgies take care of everything social by polling your social channels in real-time. These are dynamic polls that work essentially anywhere on the web making them very sharable and likely to generate the most responses. These polls are great at learning what your users think of your brand but they truly excel at generating interactions and engagement. They’re fun and really stand out on your feed. Try it out yourself with a simple fun poll like “Which superhero is most like your ex-girlfriend?”. You can also embed these polls directly into your site!

Look, if you use at least two of these tools on a regular basis you will see a difference in your conversions and brand awareness. Pick at least one tool from each category to make a part of your core strategy and you’ll be blown away at how much you’ve been missing out on. So many sites face huge bounce rates simply from not having the right tools in place. Most of these tools are free so you have no excuses, get testing today.

Related Stories

]]>
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/99752332/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Advanced-Tools-to-Optimize-Your-Existing-Traffic/feed/4https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/cars.pnghttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/8-instagram-hacks-that-will-drive-sales-from-millennials/8 Instagram Hacks That Will Drive Sales From Millennialshttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/98729426/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Instagram-Hacks-That-Will-Drive-Sales-From-Millennials/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/98729426/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Instagram-Hacks-That-Will-Drive-Sales-From-Millennials/#commentsWed, 01 Jul 2015 13:45:42 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26218So it’s been six months since you launched your Instagram Account. In theory, its purpose was to connect your brand with the thousands of millennials that ‘gram it up’ every day while somehow turning those followers into cash. In reality, you’re failing to convert all those millennials and their double tap love hearts into actual paying customers. The worst part is, you have no idea why you’re failing. Well I’m here to help. In this 5 minute…

Related Stories

]]>
So it’s been six months since you launched your Instagram Account.

In theory, its purpose was to connect your brand with the thousands of millennials that ‘gram it up’ every day while somehow turning those followers into cash. In reality, you’re failing to convert all those millennials and their double tap love hearts into actual paying customers. The worst part is, you have no idea why you’re failing.

Well I’m here to help. In this 5 minute read, you’ll find a list of 8 Instagram Hacks & Secrets That Will Drive Sales From Millennials; transforming your Instagram Account into a lead gen machine on steroids.

So let’s get started.

1. Create Call To Actions That Actually Result In Action

One of the beautiful things about Instagram is it restricts your ability to link off site and spam your follower’s feeds with BS.

From a user’s point of view, this is a feature of sheer brilliance. From a marketers point of view, it’s a massive road block on the Lead Gen Highway.

Luckily for you, the work around is simple. Simply place the link you want traffic driven to in your website address field in your bio. Then, all you need to do is reference this link on your next post through a call to action. Something as basic as “To find out more, click the link in our bio” will suffice.

This is an awesome work around and it only require your followers to click twice (once on your profile link and once on the website link) to be connected with your desired website. Gone are the days of pasting a non clickable, text heavy, boredom inspiring chunk of dirty text that no one will go to the effort of typing into their mobile browsers, especially not ADD centric millennials.

2. Increase Exposure By Placing Call To Actions As A Location Extension

Would you click through?

Placing extra information or even a web address as a call to action in the location extension field (that appears above your image in your follower’s feeds) can be a great way to capture extra attention.

Personally, I’m not a massive fan of this method, however, I have seen other account’s action this effectively. Do heed this warning though: do not over do it, too much of any good thing is always a bad thing (AKA don’t spam your audience, nobody has time for that).

3. Add Line Breaks To Your Instagram Captions

ahhh sweet spaces…

Nothing will bore your users into swiping away from your image more than lengthy captions that are not separated by any line breaks.

There is no doubt in my mind that white space is an extremely powerful tool for cultivating increased attention and engagement, or simply making an caption look neater (see screenshot above). The problem with line breaks is, you have to be sneaky in order to create them.

So how do you do it?

1. Create your desired text, complete with the line breaks / white space you want
2. In order for your paragraph to work, you need to remove any characters, spaces or emojis following your text
3. Publish the image and BOOM, you now have spaces breaking up your text heavy caption – just nobody call the grammar police

4. Get More Instagram Followers

Your goal should always be to make it as EASY as possible for your customers to learn more about you.

One of the most frequent questions I get as a digital strategist is, “Paul, can you tell me how to get more Instagram followers?”

In my experience, there are two great Instagram Hacks that will help you build your audience with speed in mind. They are:

1. Follow the followers of accounts that are homogenous to yours
The idea behind this is simple. By following those people that Like / Comment or Follow account’s that are similar to yours, you will get roughly 10 – 20% of these people following you back.

This plays on the curiosity that many people have when someone follows them. More often than not, when someone follows you, you feel inclined to see who that person is. This results in you checking out their account, and if you like what you see (which is likely given you already follow a similar account) you may follow them back.

2. Follow accounts from relevant hashtags
This works on exactly the same premise as part 1, expect you find accounts to follow based on the hashtags they are using.

My tests show that, as of the date this article was published, Instagram limits you yo following 50 people, per account, per hour.

Please note that one main disadvantage of this (almost spammy) method is the fact that your feed will now be inundated with accounts that you do not know, hindering your ability to be authentic and engage with your community accordingly.

5. Why Your “Thanks for following” Test Just Won’t Cut It Anymore

One of Instagram’s defining points of difference from other social networks is it’s user experience. Namely, what makes Instagram so great is it’s built on a foundation on highly engaging, high value, image and video content.

Whilst I commend those that go to the effort of posting a “thanks for following” comment in response to being followed (here have a cookie), I do believe it’s time you up-the-anti and start thanking your new followers via video direct message.

Have no idea what i’m talking about? Play the video below to get a better understanding of what I mean.

“But Paul that looks like a lot of effort!”

It sure is, but that’s the beauty of it.

Think about receiving a video reply from someone you just followed. This person has gone out of their way to thank you, putting their ego on the line by putting themselves out there and actually taking the time to thank you personally for following them. If this strategy isn’t an example of sound community engagement, I don’t know what is.

6. Add Line Breaks To Your Bio

Just like I mentioned in Point 3, there is no doubt in my mind that white space is a powerful tool for cultivating increased attention and engagement in your posts. The same train of thought can be applied to your bio.
There is no reason why your bio should be an unattractive ugly mess of copy that is all on the same line. Your goal should always be to make it as EASY as possible for your customers to learn more about you. And one of the easiest ways to do this is by adding white space / line breaks to your bio.

Method:

1. Log into your Instagram Account on a computer
2. Edit your bio and add spaces / line breaks just like you would in a word document
3. Hit save and you’re done!

7. Track Your Call To Actions With bit.ly

Failing to track your social media analytics is up there with the Top 5 Digital Marketing No-No’s of all time. Just because Instagram doesn’t have an analytics suite (yet) doesn’t mean you can’t bootstrap your Account to measure your success and optimise it for the future.

Link shortening services like bit.ly are an essential weapon in your digital marketing analytics arsenal. These services allow you to:

shorten long, ugly, naked URLs

track the amount of traffic the link receives

track your link performance over time

track where your links occurred geographically

plus many other useful features

By simply turning the website link in your bio into a bit.ly link, you unlock a new world of content and copy analytics and optimisation which will improve and refine your Instagram strategy over time… ultimately leading to more sales from your Instagram Account.

8. Talk Your Target’s Talk

The big thing about millennials is… they are immune to your sleazy, stale, old school, almost embarrassing call to actions.

“CAN’T WAIT FOR THE WEEKEND” “WHAT A GREAT NIGHT” “BOOK NOW SO YOU DON’T MISS OUT”

Let me share a secret with you. Millennials are tired. Really tired. Like, really really tired of you trying to push your shitty sales messages at them in an attempt to push your product.

If you address your community with copy and call to actions that don’t align to your demographic’s lingo, you will only serve to alienate and annoy your potential customers.

This ultimately diminishes your ability to create leads and monetise your channel, which is the OPPOSITE of what we are trying to achieve. Still confused? Feel free to come learn more here on my personal blog.

Related Stories

]]>
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/98729426/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Instagram-Hacks-That-Will-Drive-Sales-From-Millennials/feed/6https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/instagram-update.pnghttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/the-crash-course-on-using-facebook-groups-to-grow-a-thriving-niche-community/The Crash Course on Using Facebook Groups to Grow a Thriving Niche Communityhttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/98358262/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~The-Crash-Course-on-Using-Facebook-Groups-to-Grow-a-Thriving-Niche-Community/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/98358262/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~The-Crash-Course-on-Using-Facebook-Groups-to-Grow-a-Thriving-Niche-Community/#commentsMon, 29 Jun 2015 13:59:18 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26190Facebook Groups are my secret sauce. I used them to recruit 150 writers in three months to help start a publication. A year later, I began freelancing for a company that sells software to digital marketers. Then using a special tool called Facebook Graph, we created a local digital marketing community including thirty-plus potential customers who love our brand, all in under a month. I know better than anyone how hard it can be trying…

Related Stories

]]>
Facebook Groups are my secret sauce. I used them to recruit 150 writers in three months to help start a publication. A year later, I began freelancing for a company that sells software to digital marketers. Then using a special tool called Facebook Graph, we created a local digital marketing community including thirty-plus potential customers who love our brand, all in under a month.

I know better than anyone how hard it can be trying to build a local community through in-person networking. It takes a significant amount of time and discourages many should-be leaders. The answer to all these problems lies in utilizing Facebook branding and outreach.

By the time you’re done with this step-by-step guide you’ll be the leader of your very own local niche community. Let’s get started.

Step 1: Define your niche

Picking your niche can be very difficult. If you’re already a business owner it’s easier; however, for most of us, we struggle when thinking of where our passion lies. The truth is that you can go through your entire life wondering what you should do, or you can just start.

If you decide to start, here are a few questions to answer to help narrow down your niche:

Can I promote this product or service for a couple of years?

Do I enjoy whatever I’m promoting?

Do I show passion when I talk about it?

Do I want to become a local leader in this niche?

Step 2: Create a mission statement

Before you create a Facebook group and start inviting people, you must have a mission statement. Your mission statement must encompass what your group represents and how it betters their life. Also, it’s critical that the mission statement is excellent because it’s visible to everyone who’s in your group and on your corresponding Facebook fan page.

Here are the four main components of any great mission statement:

Value

Inspiration

Plausibility

Specificity

Think About Long-Term vs. Short-Term

Do you want your community’s mission statement to reflect its short-term or long-term goals? Don’t try to find a balance, just choose one since specificity is key.

Step 3: Create a Facebook group

Click on GROUPS on the left-hand column of your homepage, and then click on Create Group.

You’ll see this popup:

Leave the “Add this group to your favorites” checked; this makes the group easier to find. Furthermore, the privacy setting you pick depends on the group you’re creating. Rule of thumb is that the best privacy setting is the one that will encourage your users to engage.

Now that your group is created, where do you put the mission statement?

In the description field on the left-hand side, put the posting guidelines first, then your mission statement. This strategy will keep your group safer from users that post spam. I suggest lightly warning your members against posting self-promotional content, advertisements, or other types of media that doesn’t fit your group’s mission statement.

What you put as your cover photo is critical. I recommend a group photo of your core members for social validation or even a great picture of the venue where you might regularly hold get-togethers. As long as your cover photo exemplifies a benefit the group provides whether the venue’s view (like in the cover photo above) or other types of social validation, then it works.

Step 4: Create A Reward

Without a benefit to joining your group, you won’t receive members. So, before you start inviting people, it’s time to brainstorm.

When will they receive rewards?

Your group will remain stale if the members don’t receive benefits. You must reward your group on a consistent basis. Maybe the reward is a great speaker each week or a cool yoga lesson. Keep it relevant to your group’s interests and make sure it has enough value to encourage engagement.

How can you change-up your reward?

People get bored with rewards that don’t change. We’re naturally attracted to new things that provide value. If you can supply a different valuable reward on a consistent basis, then you’re attendees will remain engaged.

Low cost, high value

Producing high-value rewards is hard. It’s important you find the balance between high value and low cost.

The more touch points, the better

The more touch points where you can insert value, the better. From live Hangouts to having members converse in-person and listen to great speakers, you want to provide value where they spend most of their time.

Everyone places a different value

Keep in mind that the more value your individual members attribute to rewards, the more you should personalize them. Consequently, you will establish a more personable and concrete relationship with them.

Step 5: Ensure conversion

Before you begin reaching out to people, it’s vital that you learn to brand yourself.

Attractive profiles result in a high response rate when sending messages

Leaders with a positive social perception generate more engagement. Correspondingly, I suggest high-quality photos or paying a professional photographer to take photos of you to put on your personal Facebook profile.

Make sure to take off any content that appears contradicting to your community’s mission statement. Also, those old photos of you partying in college should be removed, too. Striking the right balance between being personable and a strong community leader takes practice.

I had my photos professionally taken.

Take a look:

Relevant profiles result in the highest response rate

People in your group naturally want a leader who genuinely represents what they’re presenting. If you’re promoting a group about yoga, then have some yoga pictures. If you do that, then you’re more likely to look like a leader in your local niche.

A relevant pinned post

As much as we don’t want to believe it, people have a tendency to go through your entire profile. So make sure your latest post is relevant to your group’s niche and has strong social validation with a high number of “Likes.”

If they can find it, then make it relevant

If you have a large group, some people will look through your entire profile in search of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Make sure you’re prepared by deleting any content that doesn’t help your brand.

Step 6: Recruit Core Members

Don’t message people about your group if there’s no social validation because you’re the only member. It’s vital that you get a couple of core members who will help you establish the group.

Think of your group as an established and prominent organization – there are normally a president, vice president, and a chief marketing officer. Assign your core members job titles and responsibility, and it will spark their engagement. But make sure you know how to limit their control.

So how do you reach out to new users when starting out?

Facebook Graph

One of the best ways to recruit your founding members is to utilize Facebook graph. Begin by identifying the friends you already connect to on Facebook by putting in the right search phrases into Facebook graph search. You can utilize graph search to find people by their job title, company, location, languages, and what they like.

Here are four examples of phrases you can search:

Friends of My Friends Who Like X Page

Friends of My Friends Who Work at X Company

Fans of X Page That Live In Y City

People who like PAGE NAME 1 and PAGE NAME 2 and live in CITY NAME

Here’s an example:

If you’re having a hard time brainstorming search ideas, then use Facebook Audience.

How to use Facebook Audience:

First click on Ads Manager on the left-hand side of your homepage.

Then click on Audience Insights.

Here you can research your ideal target member in-depth. Moreover, let’s say you want to start a local digital marketing group, then analyze people who like a relevant company – let’s say Digital Marketer.

You can see a ton of data on this type of customer including what pages they like, their normal activities, and even purchase habits. This data will help you craft a more personable message when you eventually reach out to recruit.

Notice how people who like Digital Marketer also like Moz, a SEO software? You can utilize this information with Facebook graph search.

Search based on interests

Since I’m interested in knowing more about my target member’s interests, I search “Interests liked by people who like Digital Marketer.” This helps me customize my pitch and identify additional people who are interested in joining my local digital marketing group.

Be social

Remember, if you’re shooting out a message to someone about joining your relevant group that offers free value, then it’s not spam. These people are interested in what you’re offering. Thinking of it as you doing them a favor by breaking the ice.

“See More” option

If you’re not connected to the person who you’re sending a message to, then after you press the message button, you can hit See More. Now you’ll see an option to pay a dollar to send them a message straight to their primary inbox. This can be an extremely effective method to recruit members if your conversion rates are high enough.

After you have a solid group of core members, you can ask them to apply the same recruiting method you used to find new members. I recommend only asking your most passionate members to help you with this, otherwise you will scare off newcomers.

Step 7: Creating Outreach Templates

These are the ten core points for the perfect Facebook Message to recruit new members:

1. Connection

Start with your common connection.

2. Personalize

State another common interest for messaging.

3. Pain point

It’s difficult to connect with people who have the same interests and bring a local community together around those interests.

4. Solution

Talk about how this local group helps connect people with similar interests.

5. Benefits

Talk about the excellent time everyone has connecting and improving themselves. Also, mention any giveaways and speakers you have.

6. Credibility

If you’re an experienced digital marketer, then mention the number of years you’ve worked in the industry.

7. Features

Here you want to mention quickly your location or any other features worth talking about.

8. Reiterate benefits

9. Reiterate solution

10. Call to action and questions

Here’s a good example: “I hope to see you at our upcoming meeting this [date]. Please reach out if you have any questions. Join the group here: [URL to Facebook group].

Sample Outreach Messages

First touch

“Hey John,

I wanted to connect because I noticed you like digital marketing, and more specifically, content marketing. It’s so hard to bring people in [location] with the same passions together. So, I created a community called [community name] where we talk about content marketing and digital marketing.

Everyone has a great time and makes valuable connections. As a digital marketer with several years of experience, it’s so much fun to meet up with similar people in a fun and relaxing setting. We have an incredible location in downtown with free beer and other refreshments. You should come to [name of community] so you can have fun and make new friends.

I hope to see you at our next meeting! Please let me know if you have any questions. Join the group here:[URL to Facebook group]”

No Response Follow-Up:

If a couple of days passed without a reply, send a follow-up message. A follow-up message communicates that you care about them and the group prospering. Remember, sending the follow-up message is just as critical as sending the primary one.

“Hey John,

Just in case you forgot, I wanted to reach out because I noticed you like digital marketing and more specifically, content marketing. This is why I created the Facebook group, [name of community], for local people like us where we talk about these interests.

It’s an excellent time, and we all make incredible connections. We have a stunning location in downtown with free beer and other refreshments. Can you do me a small favor and let me know if you’re interested?

Please feel free to ask me any questions. If this piques your interest, join the group here: [URL to Facebook group]”

Step 8: Creating Engagement

1. First comment

Encourage people to introduce themselves to the Facebook group. They should mention their passions and professional interests. To ease the process, send them a direct personal message of encouragement.

2. Small win

I recommend giving something of value away that new members can immediately use. A good example is an REI discount for a local hiking group. Also, posting pictures from group get-togethers on social media does wonders for your Facebook group and fan page engagement.

3. Make it personal

A Facebook community has higher engagement if people get to know each other on a more personal level. To facilitate this, you need to take the first step in opening up. If you can, then it will give others the courage to step out of their comfort zone, too.

There you have it! After following these steps you’ll have an engaged, interested niche facebook community. No more Meetups and dead-end networking. The power is in your hands to lead your own community exactly as you want. Drive conversations in the directions you want and reap all the benefits of a devoted group of followers.

Related Stories

]]>
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/98358262/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~The-Crash-Course-on-Using-Facebook-Groups-to-Grow-a-Thriving-Niche-Community/feed/1https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/0000.jpghttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/why-we-blew-up-our-blog/Why We Blew Up Our Bloghttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/97762038/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Why-We-Blew-Up-Our-Blog/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/97762038/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Why-We-Blew-Up-Our-Blog/#commentsThu, 25 Jun 2015 14:07:49 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26169This week we launched our massive redesign of Social Media Explorer. Making dramatic changes to such a popular website was a daunting task to say the least. Because we have so much respect for what Social Media Explorer means to our audience, we took our time with a planning process spanning many months. So why did we tackle this project in the first place? Well let’s just say we kind of care about our followers… a lot. You…

Related Stories

]]>
This week we launched our massive redesign of Social Media Explorer. Making dramatic changes to such a popular website was a daunting task to say the least. Because we have so much respect for what Social Media Explorer means to our audience, we took our time with a planning process spanning many months.

So why did we tackle this project in the first place? Well let’s just say we kind of care about our followers… a lot.

You deserved a simpler user experience

Our primary goal was to improve navigation and user experience for our audience. This new layout has received outstanding feedback on our agency site for a while now, so we knew it would be an improvement for our blog readers, too.

You deserved a more modern design

Our previous design was eight years old. It didn’t perform to our standards for mobile or search. We needed to make sure you’d have a great experience however you reached our website. We also needed to ensure that you could find our great content on Google without having to dig through a pile of outdated links. This design is intended to give new users a chance to experience as much of our content as possible. The sleek condensed approach is optimized for sharing our articles in a streamlined and accessible format. We hope that this will ultimately make it easier to navigate our site and understand what we’re about right from the get go.

You deserved clarity and transparency

Even after three years, we were surprised to find people were still unsure about the relationship between Social Media Explorer and SME Digital. The new design gives us a cohesive brand, and makes it explicitly clear that Social Media Explorer and SME Digital belong to the same organization. Having a connection between brand and blog is extremely important and we implore other agencies running a blog to take a step back and decide if they need to do the same. Readers want to know the story and humans behind your blog.

We hope the new design achieves all these goals. The only way we can know for sure is for you to tell us. If you have a minute, we invite you to give us your opinion of the changes in this survey. We want Social Media Explorer to be your straight-talk source for ideas and inspiration. The only way we can make this site perfect is with the help of our amazing followers like you.

We still believe there’s still a lot of ground to cover and new territory to explore in social media. Thanks for joining us on this exciting journey.

Related Stories

]]>
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/97762038/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Why-We-Blew-Up-Our-Blog/feed/0https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Copy-of-Copy-of-Barbeque.pnghttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/do_social_media_crises_actually_exist/Do Social Media Crises Actually Exist?http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/97435166/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Do-Social-Media-Crises-Actually-Exist/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/97435166/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Do-Social-Media-Crises-Actually-Exist/#commentsMon, 22 Jun 2015 18:58:02 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26154You’ll find a lot of content out there regarding how to handle a “social media crisis.” Agencies and marketers create plans, run simulations and train their front-line employees. All this effort, exerted so that they’ll be prepared when a tsunami of negativity smacks them upside the Facebook page. But are these efforts worthwhile? Is it possible that we’re spending an extraordinary amount of energy worrying about something that doesn’t actually exist? What is a social…

]]>
You’ll find a lot of content out there regarding how to handle a “social media crisis.”

Agencies and marketers create plans, run simulations and train their front-line employees. All this effort, exerted so that they’ll be prepared when a tsunami of negativity smacks them upside the Facebook page.

But are these efforts worthwhile? Is it possible that we’re spending an extraordinary amount of energy worrying about something that doesn’t actually exist?

What is a social media crises

There are really two different kinds of scenarios people refer to when they talk about a “social media crisis”:

A business operations or customer service problem which attracts a viral level of attention on social media. In other words: “You screwed up in real life, and people are talking about it on social media.”

A communications gaffe that happens on a business’ official social media account, or the account of an owner or high-level staff member. In other words, “You screwed up on social media, and people noticed.”

But are these real examples of a crisis? According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of “crisis” is “an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome.”

When do they even matter

Think about the most memorable examples of “social media crises” you can recall. Do any of them represent a crucial time demanding decisive change? Possibly, in the case of a business operations or customer service problem, a decisive change is needed. But no communications strategy has the power to enact that change. In this case, social media isn’t the fire; it’s the alarm.

What about a highly-visible communications fail? If you’re an individual, a social media fail can have serious personal consequences, like losing your job. If you’re a digital agency, it can cost you a client relationship and seriously impact your reputation. If you’re a brand or business, it can stress out your PR team for a few weeks. I’m not sure that qualifies as a bona-fide, business-wide crisis.

Alarmist language like “social media crisis” creates unnecessary fear around something that should be a normal part of doing business.

Even the most egregious brand flubs on social media have failed to have a lasting, significant impact to the company’s bottom line. While it’s embarrassing, a questionable Tweet has yet to be the root cause of any company’s stock values dropping. Jobs lost due to a social media fail are the result of personal accountability, not accounting concerns about profitability.

How they should be viewed

Crisis communications is a standard part of any business marketing toolset. It’s simply a cost of doing business. Your front line staff and social media team should absolutely be prepared to respond when something goes wrong — if only because feeling prepared will reduce their stress level and enable them to serve your customers better. That’s just being a good employer.

Heightened, alarmist language like “social media crisis” creates unnecessary fear and drama around something that should be a normal part of doing business. It supports the unrealistic expectation that nothing negative will or should ever be said about your company online.

Unfortunately, managing the fallout from mistakes is a part of every business. But the odds are, unless your situation is truly unprecedented, business will soon get back to normal.

]]>
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/97435166/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Do-Social-Media-Crises-Actually-Exist/feed/0https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Copy-of-Barbeque-2.pnghttps://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/assemble-ultimate-marketing-team/Assemble the Ultimate Marketing Teamhttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/97428520/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Assemble-the-Ultimate-Marketing-Team/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/97428520/0/feedburner/socialmediaexplorer~Assemble-the-Ultimate-Marketing-Team/#commentsMon, 22 Jun 2015 18:14:56 +0000https://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/?p=26151Superhero movies are super popular right now. We thought it would be fun to take a look at what skills and gifts (dare we say superpowers?) you need to assemble a truly great agency team. The Leader An inspiring communicator with clear vision and the ability to convince people to follow them even when it seems crazy or impossible. (CEO) The Genius The inventive, tech-savvy problem-solver with a bird’s-eye-view of the battlefield, all the best…

The Handler

At SME Digital, we’ve got trained professionals in all these roles. But we’re always ready to expand the roster with fresh talent. Do any of these descriptions sound like you? Then check out our current positions and see if you’ve got what it takes to join our team.